Mossberg: iPhone 3G will cost you more than the old model

Yes, the new iPhone 3G is "much, much faster at fetching data" — 200 to 500 kilobits per second in New York and Washington, D.C. tests. Prices start at $199, half that of the old model. But the only gadget reviewer who can make or break a product warns that the new King of Phones will, like a Mach 3 Turbo razor, cost you more than you realize over time. Also, "There’s no copy and paste function, no universal search, no instant messaging and no MMS for sending photos quickly between phones." You're buying one anyway, but read our excerpt of Walt's two ways the new iPhone will cost you more in time and money than the original.

First, in my tests, the iPhone 3G’s battery was drained much more quickly in a typical day of use than the battery on the original iPhone, due to the higher power demands of 3G networks. This is an especially significant problem because, unlike most other smart phones, the iPhone has a sealed battery that can’t be replaced with a spare.

Second, Apple’s exclusive carrier in the U.S., AT&T Inc., has effectively negated the iPhone’s upfront price cut by jacking up its monthly fee for unlimited data use by $10. Over the course of the two-year contract you must sign to get the lower hardware prices, that adds $240, overwhelming the $200 savings on the phone itself. If you want text messaging, the cost rises further. With the first iPhone, 200 text messages a month came free. Now, 200 messages will cost $5 a month, or another $120 over the two-year contract.

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